Table 1.

Effects of late gestational nutritional plane of primiparous beef females on maternal growth and body composition changes during gestation

	Nutritional plane1
Item	Control	Nutrient Restricted	SEM2	P-value
Average daily gain (gravid), kg/d
Days 158 to 265 of gestation	0.56	−0.06	0.04	<0.001
Maternal average daily gain (non-gravid), kg/d
Day 158 of gestation to post-calving3	0.35	−0.25	0.03	<0.001
Body condition score change4
Day 158 of gestation to post-calving	0.24	−1.80	0.15	<0.001
Backfat thickness change, cm
Day 158 of gestation to post-calving	−0.002	−0.138	0.021	<0.001

¹Primiparous dams were individually-fed either 100% (Control) or 70% (Nutrient Restricted) of metabolizable energy and metabolizable protein requirements for maintenance, pregnancy, and growth from day 160 of gestation to parturition.

²Standard error of the mean for Control (n = 12) and Nutrient Restricted (n = 13).

³Non-gravid body weight on day 158 of gestation determined by subtracting the gravid uterine weight.

⁴1 to 9 scale (1 = emaciated, 9 = obese).